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An affordable multifunction printer that doubles up as a wireless internet hotspot

Now you can print from anywhere in your office, courtesy this full-featured, wireless multifunction (MFD) printer. Not only that, you can easily copy, scan, fax, and share resources—and connect PCs and mobile devices to the internet with the built-in wireless hotspot. The innovative thing about HP HotSpot LaserJet Pro M1218nfs is a built-in wireless router, which apart from allowing wireless printing also doubles up as an internet hotspot. Upto eight PCs and mobile devices can connect to it at a time.

Apart from that, the MFP boasts of features like Smart Install, ePrint, and Airprint. Smart Install allows you to install the printer without inserting a CD for drivers. ePrint allows you to fire prints to the printer simply by sending emails to HP’s servers. Airprint allows you to print from Apple’s devices.

At 8.3 kg, the MFP is pretty lightweight. Besides Wi-Fi, the machine also has USB and Ethernet connectivity. It has an uncluttered and easy to use control panel. We used a standard ISO page for testing the performance of this MFP. We got 17 documents printed within a minute, with the first page coming out in 9 seconds. The results for copying were also similar. You can get a maximum of 99 copies with a resize range varying from 25 to 400%. The automatic duplex printing feature is not available but you could do it manually. The scanner clocked 7 and 3 seconds for scanning an A4 page in B/W & colour modes respectively. The print quality was always excellent.

Bottomline: A low cost MFP that doubles up as a wireless internet hotspot, besides the usual functions. This functionality definitely makes it a good choice for small and medium businesses.

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